Kevin Bates of Lake Ariel is a local driver at Penn Can Speedway in Susquehanna and Five Mile Point in New York...just to name a couple of the many tracks that he races on.

On Friday July 6th, Kevin did win his feature race, his 2nd of the season so far at the Penn Can. However, he was not able to bring that car back on the 13th as they had found motor issues. The engine was found to be running on 7 cylinders when he won.

On Friday July 13th, Kevin who is also known as “The Ice Man” and “The High Side Hustler” thought he had the car to beat.

When interviewed before the race, Bates said it was, “as good as any that we have and it’s the one we ran here earlier in the year and I got a win with.”

Bates won the week before, but the 27-year-old came up just short this time around, finishing 2nd to Don Pompey in a heated battle with Brett Tonkin.

Kevin, who was on his 3rd night of racing in a row with still 2 more to go was then asked how it felt to win on July 6th. He admitted that it felt pretty good to win a 2nd race at the same track that season.

When asked to sum up how he feels about his position in the standings this year, Bates didn’t even know where he stood. He said that he doesn’t worry about that until the last few weeks of the season.

“It is hard to keep up with those kinds of things when you race at so many different tracks,”?he said.

Kevin has even raced as far away as Daytona. He is an extremely hard worker. He not only races, but helps out at his shop, Kevin Bates Racing, and is a full time fabricator.

Bates, who has been racing since 1998 when he was only 13, has won many races, but wants more than anything to win at a track in Syracuse, New York.

A few more of Kevin’s accomplishments are that in 2010 he finished 2nd in points at Five Mile Point in and that he won the “King of the Can” in 2011.

Last year, Kevin teamed up with a local musical group by the name of “My Darkest Days.” That’s been a big success and he even met the band and brought his “My Darkest Days” car to a concert they performed with Hinder.